D’Amato bulk carrier to be auctioned by Chinese court

China’s Ningbo Maritime Court has announced that it will hold an auction to sell the 2001-built panamax bulker
Primrose via online platform Taobao on February 13 at the request of the ship’s crews.

According to the court file, the court detained the vessel last year in a Zhoushan yard after nine crew from the vessel filed a court case against the owner, who hasn’t paid their salaries since 2016.

The 74,700 dwt vessel is owned by Italian company UniCredit Leasing and was managed by Italian owner D’Amato di Navigazione. It has been laid up in the yard since D’Amato was declared bankrupt and cleared out its fleet in January last year.

The starting price for the vessel in the auction is RMB44m ($6.5m), while MSI values it at
$7.8m.

Jason worked for a number of logistics firms following his English degree, then switched this hands-on experience to writing and has since become one the most prolific writers on the diverse China logistics industry writing for a host of titles including Supply Chain Asia, Cargo Facts and Air Cargo Week. Jason’s access to the biggest shippers with business in China has proved an invaluable source of exclusives.